Boring is good

In our experience, some of the best high yield bonds reflect those of us who invest in them; low-key, reliable, and often profoundly boring. The ‘monotony’ of a business that reliably posts juicy but safe cash flows? Sign me up! Some of our fondest positions are in glamorous industries such as cardboard boxes, funeral care, tin can making, and the gel-like casings your headache tablets come in. Glitz and a good story is more often found in the equity market, and that’s the way we like it.

A test to this rule came recently when US electric car maker, Tesla, issued its maiden, conventional high yield bond. Tesla is unquestionably an impressive company. Their cars are technological marvels that outperform their peers on almost every metric, and to be sure, our friends in the equity market have certainly not been shy in reflecting such wonder. Tesla’s current share price implies an enterprise value (that is the total value of Tesla’s debt and equity) of some 96x its Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation.EBITDA is the HY market’s imperfect (but convenient) shorthand for cash flow, and illustrates the cash earnings a firm produces from its assets, stripped of as much accounting chicanery as possible. Now, 96x is a lot. A cynic might suggest that all the good things that have ever or could ever happen to this company are currently ‘in the price’.

By way of reference, BMW is a reasonably well-known car maker that has both a very strong position in conventional premium cars, as well as making significant inroads into electrification of cars via the impressive i3 and i8 models. We would be the first to admit that wherever the auto industry is going, Tesla will be part of it, but so too will BMW. In the meantime, they have a significant and highly profitable conventional car business, as well as decades of embedded know-how in the sector and a cash flow profile that can support significant investment in research and development.

Conveniently, BMW ($61 billion) and Tesla ($60.7b) have almost identical equity market valuations. However in terms of cash flow and scale, they are worlds apart. Last year Tesla produced just over 76,000 vehicles to BMW’s 2,360,000; a factor of some 31:1. Cash flow is where the real difference lies however. BMW’s cash flow is such that the company is valued by the market at only 7.5x the EBITDA it can produce today versus the 96x at Tesla. Clearly, the market believes Tesla ‘should’ grow significantly in the future.

Given Tesla’s ambition currently far exceeds its cash flow, it has turned to the high yield market to plug the gap between what it needs to spend to grow into its valuation, and what it can generate currently. For us, this is the antithesis of what a high yield bond is for. By investing in Tesla bonds you are providing growth equity capital with all the potential downside that entails, but with the upside profile of, well, a bond. Regardless of our admiration for Tesla, we don’t like that risk reward profile and we declined to buy the new deal. We prefer businesses that ‘do’ rather than ‘should’ produce the cash flow we need to pay our coupons and principal back. In the good times it can be easy to have one’s head turned by new and dynamic companies; however at Kames we don’t believe that our clients’ interests are served by such an approach, when indeed the opposite is usually far more rewarding for bondholders. If that makes our presentations a little less electric then so be it.

Important information

For Professional Investors only and not to be distributed to or relied upon by retail clients.

The opinions presented are those of Kames Capital fund managers as at the time of publishing and may change as subsequent conditions vary. They are not intended to be relied upon as a forecast, research or investment advice, and are not a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any investment strategy. Companies mentioned may not necessarily be held in any of Kames Capital funds. The information and opinions contained in these pieces are derived from proprietary and non proprietary sources deemed by Kames Capital to be reliable, are not necessarily all inclusive and are not guaranteed as to accuracy. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the listener/viewer.

This site is not intended for use by any US persons (being residents of the United States of America or partnerships or corporations organised under the laws of the United States of America or any state, territory or possession thereof), who are excluded from the content in this site.

For Professional Investors only and not to be distributed to or relied upon by retail clients.

The opinions presented are those of Kames Capital fund managers as at the time of publishing and may change as subsequent conditions vary. They are not intended to be relied upon as a forecast, research or investment advice, and are not a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any investment strategy. Companies mentioned may not necessarily be held in any of Kames Capital funds. The information and opinions contained in these pieces are derived from proprietary and non proprietary sources deemed by Kames Capital to be reliable, are not necessarily all inclusive and are not guaranteed as to accuracy. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the listener/viewer.

This site is not intended for use by any US persons (being residents of the United States of America or partnerships or corporations organised under the laws of the United States of America or any state, territory or possession thereof), who are excluded from the content in this site.